Robert Manning is a hiking guru. At the University of Vermont, he researches and teaches park managment, which in practice means that he does a lot of hiking. With his wife, Martha, he cowrote the book Walking Distance(Oregon State University Press), which details 30 walks for any hiker's bucket list. Sierra spoke with Manning about his book, his experience with park management, and the best trail in the world.

The subtitle of your book is Extraordinary Hikes for Ordinary People. Who's "ordinary"? I mean, what's the face of the American hiker today?

I think it’s quite a cross-section, but the "ordinary people" part of the book is something that Martha and I feel strongly about. That’s the main purpose of the book, really: to get people walking more. Compared with people in a lot of the countries we’ve visited, not a lot of Americans are out there walking. With this book, we’re trying to do something about that, to get people to explore and create and ultimately protect these places.

You have a strong connection to the John Muir Trail in particular, which you call one of your top 10 walks in the world.

I have a long and deep relationship with the John Muir Trail. When I graduated from college, it was 1968, and the Vietnam War was raging, and so I joined the Coast Guard. I enjoyed living in the city, but even more I enjoyed getting out to Yosemite. It really convinced me that I wanted something to do with the National Parks. That’s also how I became aware of John Muir and the Sierra Club.

I always get a kick out of hiking above the tree line, of visiting places that I’d been seeing in Sierra Club calendars for years, thinking, "I really want to go there." Hiking over John Muir Pass and then on to Gifford Pinchot Pass -- the legacy of American conservation is just written into the landscape. To me, there’s no mountain range that’s more beautiful and friendly and engaging than the Sierras. That, combined with the Muir legacy, makes the trail my favorite hike.

You’re an expert in park management. What’s your take on how the John Muir Trail is managed?

It has been around for a long time, so it’s well marked and well managed. One area where it excels is the permit system.

What makes a good permit system? The only innovation I’m aware of is the Grand Canyon's rafting permit system, which switched to a weighted lottery. I should also mention that you profile a hike along the Colorado River in your book.

The rafting waitlist was 20 years [laughs], and that can’t work. The John Muir Trail innovation is the simplicty of a single permit that cuts through two national parks and two U.S. Forest Service areas. It would be daunting if one had to get a permit from those four entities and then had to coordinate the dates. At Yosemite in general, they allocate things in a way that's easy for the user, even when it's not easy for them.

So nationally, we’ve got some good parks. What about internationally? In Walking Distance, you list a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as El Camino de Santiago, in northern Spain and parts of France.

UNESCO sites are very sucessfully managed. It’s the Parks Service ramped up on a global scale. For a country to get the status, they have to have a plan in place to manage it. And they take that very seriously.

El Camino de Santiago is a Catholic pilgrimage, and yet there’s a mix of people that there.

The mix, the diversity of people, on the Camino is probably the most on any trail that I’ve walked. We met people from all over the world. Even more impressive, we came across people of all age groups. The religious significance is obviously important, but I’d say that a large portion of the people we encountered were not walking for religious reasons.

In your book, you focus on provencial hikes like the Camino and wilderness hikes like the Muir Trail. What about urban hiking?

Martha and I have really begun to embrace urban walks. One that we did this summer is what’s called the River Thames Walk in England. It starts at the source in the Gloucestershire and goes right through London -- which takes three days -- and then on to the sea. Martha and I would like to include urban and suburban walks in a future book. We love, for example, that portion of the California Coastal Trail from Muir Beach south to Cliff House. We sort of christened it "the Golden Gate Way."

--interview by Cedar Attanasio / all photos courtesy of Robert Manning

May 20, 2014

When was the last time you took a vacation? How long did it last? These are among the important questions explored in the recent short film The Great Vacation Squeeze, written and directed by John de Graaf. De Graaf has explored the differences in vacation and leisure time between the US and Europe for years, and in 2002 he co-founded the organization Take Back Your Time “to point out the problems connected with overwork in America.”

Supported by Sierra Club Productions, this film is one of his latest projects that examines just how stark these differences are and hopes to inspire people to do something to change it. De Graaf believes that the idea of vacation and leisure is strongly intertwined with the Sierra Club’s mission statement.

“The Sierra Club's purpose is enjoying, exploring, and protecting the natural world, and it's hard to enjoy it or explore it when you don't have any time off. It also leaves you less likely to want to protect it,” he said. “As a member I think it important that the club not forget its commitment to enjoying and exploring nature.”

Which of these facts from the film will convince you it's about time for paid vacations?

Time to catch up. The US is the only wealthy country without paid vacation time, which may be an underlying cause of a whole host of issues, including stress and overwork. “Our lack of policy [mandating paid vacations] contributes to serious health problems, weakens family connections, and [reduces] the opportunity for all of us to get out in the natural world, especially children,” de Graaf said.

Strong ties. “It was John Muir, key founder of the Sierra Club, who, as I point out in the film, was the first American to advocate a paid vacation law, way back in 1876,” de Graaf said. Muir called for a law of rest that would give time off each year for people to reconnect with nature. The idea lived on in the early 20th century when President William Howard Taft suggested of a three-month long vacation for every worker.

So close, yet so far. During the Great Depression, the Labor Department proposed a two-week paid vacation law, but it failed due to business opposition. Still, two-week trips were common in America at this time, whereas they’ve now dwindled into near oblivion.

Practice what we preach. Seventy-three percent of Americans say vacations help recharge their batteries, but fewer actually take this time. Of all working Americans, 28% receive no paid vacation time and 24% get only one week or less.

Vacations are win-win. “They do wonders for us in so many ways, as every other country understands, and they are actually helpful to business productivity and creativity as well,” de Graaf said. On an individual level, vacations can be healing in that they give us relief from stressors of daily life. Time off also promotes reflection. “In idleness there is the opportunity for contemplation, there is the opportunity for soul-searching, and for seeing, for really truly, clearly seeing, what’s around us,” says Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson in the film.

Europeans have it better. On average, Europeans live longer and are less likely to suffer from chronic illness after age 50, even though they spend less on health care. Having long, paid vacation time may have something to do with this. It's known that taking breaks from work greatly reduces stress and even improves productivity.

It’s about justice.“Most low-income Americans never have the opportunity and don't even get paid vacations,” de Graaf said. Many believe that a law mandating paid vacations would eliminate this inequality and ultimately benefit all Americans.

If you’re interested in organizing a viewing with your community, school, or local Sierra Club chapter, you can reach de Graaf at jodg@comcast.net.

--Image by David Fox, used with permission of John de Graaf

Jessica Zischkeis a former editorial intern at Sierra. She is currently studying environmental studies at Dartmouth College. On campus she works as an editor of Dartbeat, the blog of the student-run newspaper The Dartmouth, and as the Sustainability Chair for her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta.

May 14, 2014

This summer, you could be surfing the streets on a skateboard made of fishy nets. Bureo Skateboards, is a skate company that recycles discarded fishnets into stylish plastic skateboards. Three crazy gringos came together to start a fishnet recycling company in Chile, and are now hoping to bring the end product to stores, and skateparks, near you.

While working in Chile as an environmental consultant, Ben Kneppers saw first-hand the immense amount of waste produced by the robust Chilean fishing industry. According to Bureo, discarded fishnets amounts to 10% of the oceans' plastic waste. "It's not the fault of the fishermen," Kneppers said. "They're just dealing with an incredible turnover of this material that is constantly becoming waste."

Encouraged by the Chilean government, Kneppers came up with the idea of Net Positiva, Chile's first collection and recycling program for fishnets. "I approached World Wildlife Fund Chile and said, 'How about my two crazy gringo friends come down here and we set up the first ever fishnet collection and recycling program in Chile,'" he said.

Those three crazy friends, Kneppers, David Stover, and Kevin Ahearn, made a formidable team. "We had this great trifecta, where I was on the ground in Chile with this environmental sense, David had this business sense, and Kevin had a product engineering background," Kneppers said.

Just collecting and recycling fishnets wouldn't sustain a business, so that business sense came into play early. The plastic would need to be parlayed into something valuable in order for the business to grow and increase its recycling capabilities. "We didn't want this to be a non-profit," Kneppers said. "We wanted it to be a social business, where as the business succeeds, our abilities to improve the environment and community will also grow."

It needed to be a product that required very little plastic, but also a relatively high intrinsic value. They found their solution in plastic skateboard decks. It takes one kilo of plastic per board, and a complete skateboard is worth more than $100.

Bureo has a Kickstarter page and hit its initial fundraising goal in three days. This will fund its first production run and help market the boards to skate shops. The company plans to road trip from San Diego to San Francisco this summer, engaging with the skateboard industry and hosting beach cleanups along the way.

Bureo has an interesting dilemma: it needs a constant source of material for the boards, yet its goal is to eliminate as much waste as possible. So would it be a success if Buereo ran out of material and were no longer able to make boards?

"Absolutely. That would be an incredible achievement," Kneppers said. "Right now, the material is probably 100 times greater than we can deal with, but if we could scale up production to a level that eliminated waste, that would be an incredible accomplishment and something we aspire to."

--Images and Video courtesy of Bureo Skateboards

Callum Beals is an editorial intern at Sierra. He recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz where he studied history and literature. He enjoys hiking, camping, and waking up at ungodly hours to watch soccer games.

May 08, 2014

The serac avalanche that killed 16 men last month on Everest was the largest, single-event, loss of life in Everest’s history and it has sparked political mobilization among the Sherpa people. Anger and sadness have reverberated throughout the climbing community across two continents and resulted in a massive fundraising campaign by Outside magazine Senior Editor Grayson Schaffer and National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey.

They raised $425,000 in just eight days.

Schaffer and Huey recruited a group of 10 climbing photographers to sell $100 prints of Everest that have been published in National Geographic and Outside. The flash sale was so successful that they have reopened the sale until midnight Sunday, May 11. Click Here to see the prints for sale and/or make a donation.

The climbing center has become an important part of Sherpa guide training, which recognizes that guiding is lucrative but dangerous work for mountain communities. A certificate from KCC has become a sort of union card for guides. The school employs over 17 Nepali instructors, one of whom Ang Kaji Sherpa, died in the April 18 avalanche. A number of other victims also attended KCC, notes Jennifer Lowe-Anker, co-founder of the ACLF.

When word of the death toll reached Huey, he and Schaffer spent three sleepless days pulling together photographers and assembling the website. “The question was not do I do this, but how do I do this,” said Cory Richards, accomplished mountaineer and NatGeo photographer. “Photos made it more than just an ask, it made it an offer,” says Huey. Instead of throwing money into a fund, donors get a striking piece of art that represents a community that needs support.

Some of the most well-known names in alpine photography have lent their wares to this sale, including Richards who has been to Nepal over a dozen times and worked closely with Ang Kaji at the climbing center. Richards was also on the 2012 NatGeo Everest expedition and passed under this serac several times, commenting, “There’s a reason Conrad [Anker] calls the icefall the ‘ballroom of death’.”

Huey said he would like to see changes made on Everest to provide more safety for native guides. Barring removal of all commercial guiding expeditions, he thinks “better pay, better insurance, and better education,“ are the best ways to support them.

Richards sees this fund as a way to show their friends that “their value cannot be equated the value of the Everest industry,” which yields the government over $3.3 million a year in permits alone. “It’s time to get organized and get political,” he said.

And that they have.

When the Nepali government offered families of deceased climbers about USD$400 for funeral expenses the Sherpas remaining at base camp went on strike. Their demands included an increase in the amount paid to families of the deceased to $1,000, a $10,000 payment to severely injured staff unable to return to work, 30 percent of royalties collected by the government from all western permits to create a relief fund, double the amount of insurance to mountaineering workers, a guaranteed salary for the rest of this season even if they choose not to continue working, and a memorial park to honor the deceased in Kathmandu.

In late April the Nepali government agreed to meet a majority of these demands.

May 06, 2014

Cliven Bundy talks a big game, but he's nothing new. Bundy, of course, is the racist Nevada rancher whose refusal to pay $1 million in fees and fines for illegally grazing his cattle on public land protected for the threatened desert tortoise led to an armed standoff with federal agents. The BLM withdrew after being confronted by hundreds of Bundy supporters, many of them armed. " 'The gather is now over,' said Craig Leff, a deputy assistant director with the Bureau of Land Management. 'Our focus is pursuing this matter administratively and judicially.' "

Sierra Club founder John Muir had a different view of dealing with those grazing their animals illegally on public land. In a speech printed in the January, 1896 Sierra Club Bulletin, Muir welcomed the arrival of U.S troops to put a stop to illegal sheep grazing in the brand new Yosemite National Park.

Blessings on Uncle Sam's blue-coats! In what we may call homeopathic doses, the quiet, orderly soldiers have done this fine job, without any apparent friction or weak noise, in the still, calm way that United States troops do their duty. Uncle Sam has only to say "There is you duty," and it is done. . . .

Nine Portuguese shepherds and eighteen shepherd dogs were marched across the park from the extreme northern boundary, across the Tuolumne Cañon and the rugged topography of the Merced basin to the southern boundary at Wawona, and were presented as prisoners before Captain Rodgers, who had charge of the troop guarding the park.

These shepherds submitted to being driven along over hill and dale as peacefully as sheep, notwithstanding they had a little previously been boasting of their fighting qualities and the surprising excellence of their guns, and with what deadly effect they would use them if interfered with in their divine right of stealing pasturage. But when they were calmly confronted by a soldier, armed with the authority of the United States and a gun of much surer fire than theirs, they always behaved well, and became suddenly unbelligerent.

PAUL RAUBER is a senior editor at Sierra. He is the author, with Carl Pope, of the happily outdated Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress. Otherwise he is a cyclist, cook, and dad. Follow him on Twitter @paulrauber

May 01, 2014

Well, the answer is yes! Bears can rock climb, as seen inthis viral videofilmed by youtuber Stephanie Latimer. These bears aren't quite poetry in motion; they seem too clumsy, shaky and husky to be testing their vertical limits. And since they climb free-solo (meaning without ropes or protection because they are bears), you're left on the very edge of your seat with every reach and paw shuffle.

"These are the best bear climbers I've seen since 1999 in Yosemite when I witnessed the impressive free-solo of a 50-foot 5.9 off-width by a bear....The mom employs some masterful stemming at the crux, while the cub realizes that this is a reach problem and is forced to establish a more difficult variation."

These are Mexican Black Bears, a subspecies of black bear listed asendangeredin Texas, and they grow to weigh 200-400 pounds--not an ideal weight for such miniscule paw holds. Yet somehow the little cub, after watching her mother traverse like a furryAlex Honnoldto the safe ledge, learns quickly. She nervously negotiates the route and tops out in dramatic fashion.

These black bears are often spotted by campers in Santa Elena Canyon, part of the 800,000-acreBig Bend National Parkin the lone star state. Campers and hikers might witness them lumbering around and foraging near the river with their cubs. But seeing these bears crimp, traverse and jug up the canyon walls, claws and all? That's another story.

"Rarely are [black bears] seen scaling the walls of the canyon," says a Park Ranger of Big Bend who prefers anonymity. But, he says, it happens, and it's not as impressive as the video suggests. "The cliffs actually aren't all that vertical," he says, and it's common for bears to climb anything that they perceive is climbable.

Plus, rock climbing in Santa Elena Canyon isn't conducive to human methods of climbing. The canyon rock--soft igneous and limestone flutes--is much less dense than sayYosemite's granite. Drilling and placing climbing protection are risky for the climber and damage the rock's integrity.

Wright (pictured, tall), however, remains awestruck. "After careful examination," says Wright, "I can confidently say that this is a cutting edge ascent that in bear grades is in the upper stratosphere of what is possible. I would guess it is a solid B.15." Wright equates the "B" scale (for "Bear") to the highest-rated climb in human standards, 5.15.

"Even by human standards this is one of the great ascents of our time. A new bar has been set. I think it's time for [Chris] Sharma,Honnoldand [Tommy] Caldwell to hang up their hats and give respect where it's due."

Video credit: Stephanie Latimer

Photo credit: Cedar Wright

J. Scott Donahue is a former intern at Sierra. He will soon obtain an MFA in nonfiction writing, and his thesis is composed of travel essays about trekking, mountaineering and running Nepal's Himalayas.

Part of an ongoing series exploring the Sierra Club's archives, because with such a long, rich history we don't throw back, we throw way back.

Chiura Obata is known for his striking Sierra landscapes and bald depictions of internment camps. Despite a tumultuous, life this master never stopped teaching others. Born in Sendai, Japan in 1885, Obata moved to California in 1903 and continued to paint using the sumi technique he had learned at home. His signature ink brush illustrations of Yosemite would become his legacy.

A trip to Yosemite in 1927 would introduce him to the landscape that would become the focus of his future work. He became an art professor at UC Berkeley in 1939, where he would teach Gary Snyder, a man known more for his artistry with words than a brush.

After the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Obata and his family were "evacuated" to an internment camp in 1942. During this period Obata continued to teach others and produce his own works. Putting out a call for help from his Bay Area community, he raised funds for art classes, supplies and exhibitions for fellow prisoners. His haunting depictions of his imprisonment can be seen in Topaz Moon, a collection of his sketches, woodblocks and paintings from that time.

After his release he joined the Sierra Club on their high trips and captured the “Great Nature” on his canvasses.

Obata held painting demonstrations during these trips, passing on his unique perspective of the iconic sceneries.

Check out some of his paintings today and consider bringing painting supplies on that next hike.

-- images courtesy of the Sierra Club Archives. Taken by Cedric Wright in the 1950s.

-- Special thanks to Ellen Byrne, Sierra Club Librarian.

Bianca Hernandezis the Acting Web Editor at Sierra. She recently received her MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California and has written for various publications.

April 29, 2014

We often lose sight of the environment in seeking to conquer it. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in better gear, tougher trails and higher climbs, and forget what got you out there in the first place. Humans do not seek suffering solely for glory, there has to be some reward to keep us coming back. The same applies to great writing. What makes us reread a sentence? Come back to a poem? We may read hundreds of pages of drivel to discover one nugget of truth; we may hike days in the rain for one hour of sunlight. The great moments are the ones that keep our boots on, our chins up and our spirits high.

What if you could get that feeling by reading a poem? These poems were written in a bygone era and yet they still drive us out of the house. Even now, their words inspire action and ask us to consider our environment. They ask us to take responsibility for and enjoy the Earth. These poets embody the Sierra Club’s motto to “Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet.”

In honor of the conclusion of National Poetry Month here are some poems that will light a fire in the belly of anyone who’s ever been outside.

William Wordsworth’s 1798 poem quickens the heart with frantic pleas. He urges us to quit our books, shut down our laptops and get “Up! Up!”

The sun, above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your Teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless— Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:— We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.

As a Sierra Club charter member, Charles Keeler worked to preserve the Berkeley Hills and went on to direct San Francisco's Natural History Museum at the California Academy of Sciences. Keeler bemoans man’s victory over nature and suggests one last conquest.

Man the Conqueror

Charles Keeler

One by one hast thou conquered the elements, masterful man, Taming the stream and electrical spark to thy will, To speed thee o’er land and o’er sea at thy beck and thy nod; Boring like mole through the mountains and under the rivers, Diving like penguin beneath the wild waters and rising To ride on the waves unconcerned by thy triumphs surpassing. Now thou hast mastered the air, and thy ships go careering Skyward to vie with the eagle, by danger undaunted.

What is there left for thy conquest, unsatisfied monarch? What but thyself, Cosmic Caesar, who owns none for master! Of old it was said, “Know thyself,” but I say to thee and further, “Go, conquer thyself” – that will make thee commander-in-chief, With armies of passions rebellious subdued and submissive, A monarch ‘twill make thee, with hopes and with fears for thy subjects; Nay, ‘twill make thee a god, and the world will be thine where thou walkest.

What are your favorite poems? Who inspires you to get outside?

-- top image courtesy of iStock/mothy20

-- Images courtesy of Sierra Club Archives

Caitlin Kauffman is an editorial intern for Sierra. She is a sea kayak and hiking guide in the Bay Area and the Greater Yellowstone area. She enjoys good eye contact and elk burgers.

April 28, 2014

April was the month to observe Mars, but May is for Mercury and Saturn. Mercury is appearing in the west in the early evening, trying to shine through the colors of the sunset. This is the best month of the year to see Mercury, with the end of May giving you your greatest chance to spot it. Mercury is brightest when it is closest to the sun, but it will be hard to see Mercury until after it has risen a bit higher in the sky and dimmed from its peak of brightness. On May 8, both Mercury and Mars shine at magnitude -1.0. Both planets get dimmer after this date, but Mercury dims more quickly. However, it also climbs farther away from the sunset’s glow, which actually makes it easier to see.

Each evening as Mercury has been climbing higher in the sky, Jupiter has been sliding down to meet it. But Mercury starts sinking back toward the horizon on May 25, which means their meeting will be left for another day. On May 30 Mercury shines at magnitude 1.2 and should be easy to spot beside a crescent moon.

Jupiter spends May in Gemini, and the moon passes through its vicinity on May 3 and 4, and then again on May 31, when the moon is a 10-percent-lit crescent. Mars and Saturn are trailing behind Jupiter on the ecliptic. Saturn reaches opposition on May 10 on the same evening that the moon nears Mars, and three days later the moon reaches Saturn just a little shy of full phase. The Full Moon is on May 14 at 12:15 p.m. PDT.

Last month before sunrise it was Neptune that came within two degrees of Venus, but in May it’s Uranus’s turn. On May 15 you can find Uranus less than two degrees to the upper left of Venus. If you want to see Venus and Uranus together in the evening, you’ll have to wait until March 4, 2015, when they will be less than a degree apart.

The Eta Aquarid Meteors peak on May 6 when we pass through an old stream of dust left behind by Halley’s Comet. These fast-moving meteors with long trains are best in the early morning hours of May 6 and may produce up to 70 meteors an hour.

Before sunrise on Saturday May 24, Earth will pass through a debris trail left behind by comet P/ 209 LINEAR, giving us the chance for an outburst of meteors. With a possibility of 400 meteors an hour, it’s worth a peek.

May Observing Highlights: Mercury and Saturn

(Photo: Jupiter and Mercury as seen in 2011. Credit: John Chumack)

Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomymagazine. She writes the SkyGuide for AstronomyToday.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy.

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